The aims of this study are (1) To assess the impact on survival of a simple evidence-based protocol for severe sepsis, (2) To evaluate the cost of implementation for a simplified severe sepsis protocol (3) To develop a clinical diagnostic score for identifying tuberculosis in HIV positive patients with severe sepsis (4) To assess the performance of the Xpert TB/RIF rapid PCR system for diagnosing tuberculosis in HIV positive patients with severe sepsis.